


In the farmland crops and mirrors and the space between doors grow

by Tobi_Black



Series: illusions cast upon the Space-Between-Doors [7]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Alternate Universe - Tobirama survives, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-03 17:22:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20456639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tobi_Black/pseuds/Tobi_Black
Summary: The day Sakumo saw a Hatake born in another clan was the day that started him down a path that would more than leave him remembered.It would lead him towards a son.





	In the farmland crops and mirrors and the space between doors grow

Sakumo was born in Konoha, the first generation of this shinobi village.

His mother told him of how they came to be there, one of the first to be invited. Of how one of theirs had married into the Senju, and that it had been one of her sons that had asked them to come. Their clan was small, twenty-seven – thirty-three if they counted those carrying other clan’s names, and the Hatake did, the Hatake _did_, because they were Pack – but they were fierce.

The wild was in their blood, but they’d come from the north originally – where they fought nature just as much as man, and they’d come down when the snows were too much even for them and their numbers had dwindled from a respectable nearly forty to thirteen in four consecutive hard winters – and all the in-fighting between Senju and Uchiha had made it hard to find a den where they could prosper and have many pups. Tobirama Senju had offered that, offered a den for them, and he’d delivered.

His mother told him of how the sixteen-year-old had set aside a space far from the Nara that would settle here in this village – for the sake of the other clan’s deer, which would be too tempting to their many-toothed four-legged companions – but built near the cliffside, surrounded by trees, where they’d built a house and then burrowed beneath it, into the cliffside for a proper Den.

Then he’d been born, followed by four cousins, two more than his own mother had had.

They’d been among the first to go into Konoha’s Academy, as his older cousin had fallen into a mentorship with an Inuzuka, becoming a Team. It was easy for them, an Inuzuka and a Hatake, already so used to this idea of teamwork beyond just the immediate needs of clan and mission, because Konoha would become a pack as _they_ knew it.

Those that passed from the Academy tended to fall into mentorships with their own clan or an allied clan, because they may all be at peace, but there had been too much war between Fire Country clans and they didn’t trust so easily so quickly.

Sakumo was ten when he came across one of those Hatake that his mother had told him about, one of the ones that carried the White Chakra of their clan but did not have their name.

He’d seen him before, he knew that, the village was bigger and growing every day, but there were still only so many people. He remembered him because he was an Uchiha, but also the son of one of his cousins – the one his mother called brother out of closeness even if their great-grandparents were the siblings.

He was an _Uchiha_, black hair and black eyes and pretty looks giving him away just as surely as the _fire/feathers_ feel to his chakra that all Uchiha had.

The Uchiha were just as bad as the Senju were about integrating like the other clans in Konoha were doing; which meant that they’d already settled exactly as far as they were willing to go alongside people that they’d been fighting before. The Uchiha, like the Senju, were better about the clans only loosely tied to the other, but those that had been drawn into their feud were still held at arm’s length. Partially because they liked to invest in businesses when they had enough coin to do more than feed themselves, and while the Senju had been busy with building the actual physical buildings, they’d been building businesses and business relations.

The Hatake hadn’t really been a part of the feud, so the Uchiha were primarily indifferent to them.

Indifferent didn’t mean intolerant.

Sakumo was ten, two years from when he’d be allowed to graduate the Academy, and he curious about this Uchiha with the Hatake chakra, so he did as his mother had taught him when there was something he wanted to know.

He stalked and he watched and he observed.

It took exactly one week before the Uchiha – his name was Kagami, Sakumo had learned when he’d meet up his own loosely assembled team of Danzo Shimura, and Torifu Akimichi that had none other than _Mito Uzumaki_ as a senior team leader – confronted him.

Curious about why he was following him, but not quite hostile like the older generation that had seen to the end of the Warring States would have been.

Sakumo was ten, a shinobi-in-training without any of the experience even Kagami’s generation had had at six and seven with the founding of the village; he blurted out that he was curious about him.

The sixteen-year-old seemed floored at the idea that someone was curious about _him_, when all around them were titans that each of their clans had whispered about: Madara Uchiha, Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, Mito Uzumaki, Tōka Senju. Sasuke Sarutobi, the Monkey King; Noriko Shimura, the Viperess; Ino-Shika-Cho. His uncle, Kiba Hatake, the White Wolf.

Kagami was just a Uchiha chuunin who hadn’t made a name in the Warring States as it had been over before his clan head had let him out on missions or on, and without war, he wouldn’t if he was any sort of behind-lines shinobi. His name wasn’t known beyond those who personally knew him.

The Shimura looked at him with narrowed eyes, before the Akimichi had reminded them that Mito-sama was _waiting_ and they’d run off.

~

Sakumo was eleven and every opportunity he had, he took to watch his cousin.

It hadn’t taken him long to stumble across a joint-practice with Tobirama’s team, the elder pair standing on the side-lines calling out criticism and praise, and be completely taken in by Kagami’s _lightning_ nature.

He’d only had eyes for the Uchiha when the Sarutobi had made to strike at him with a metal staff, Kagami had smiled, then had let electricity run down from where he’d caught the staff towards the Sarutobi.

He’d lingered in the hollow at the base of a tree he’d dug himself in to watch the rest of the match, almost vibrating with eagerness because _he was lightning too_.

Lightning was fairly common among Hatake, but doing much with any elemental affinity _wasn’t_ common; sword arts, jutsu with their four-legged companions, tracking and stealth, _that_ was. He _wanted_ to, but a year away from graduation, and he didn’t have anyone in mind for a mentor that would help him with that.

The moment the match was called – not a moment earlier; it had been drilled into his head how dangerous interfering in another shinobi’s fight could be if they hadn’t trained together for that, and that was a _stupid_ way to die – he rushed out of the bushes right up to Kagami, “That lightning attack was so _awesome_, senpai! Can you teach me that?”

Color rose to Kagami’s cheeks, “It’s not _that_\- You should see Tobirama-sama! Whenever he uses water-! _That’s_ awesome!”

“Water’s not lightning though.” Sakumo was almost-pouting, he knew it, but _everyone_ knew Tobirama was the undisputed master of the water element, and water wasn’t _his_ element. “_You’re_ lightning. Like _me_.”

Kagami looked between him and behind him, and back to him, “I’m not any sort of teacher! Mito-sama and Tobirama-sama are! If you want to learn-”

He shook his head, looking resolutely at him.

The Uchiha hands started to flail around a bit helplessly, and Utatane smirked, “He wants _you_ to teach him, Kagami. He set his eyes on _you_ as a mentor.”

Tobirama spoke up then, “I think it would be good for you, Kagami, to teach another. You never understand something so well as when you have to explain it to someone else.”

Kagami colored again, looking a little awed as he looked at the older man, “Do you think I _can_, Tobirama-sama?”

“Yes.”

He beamed and Sakumo grinned wolfishly as he latched onto his soon-to-be-he-just-didn’t-realize-it-yet mentor, staking his claim before anyone else could think about it.

Tobirama just chuckled.

~

Sakumo was fourteen when war broke out.

Kagami had been his mentor for two years, officially. Unofficially for three years, after he asked for that one shock attack that he led to another and another before suddenly he’d graduated and Tobirama had given his approval in official papers to assign him to Kagami.

They had been running missions together before the tensions had rose until it was inevitable that Kumo went to war with them, then they were split up for the war effort.

Kagami was reunited with his three-man team, to be part of the Hokage’s Guard alongside with Team Tobirama in the frontlines. Sakumo was instead led towards performing blitz attacks, assassinations, quick-in-and-outs where his superior stealth would be most helpful while Tobirama wiped out any larger threats, any potential village-breaking attacks.

He watched how Kagami fretted over the older man, but felt like he had no real place to say anything as their Hokage ran himself to the ground trying to protect more and more of them.

Tobirama was protecting their Pack, protecting it with everything he had, taking on more and more enemies, but it was no good if the Alpha was weakened so much in the effort; it would be the end of the Pack without him. There was no other able to take over quite so effectively, and Mito was a good Beta, but she was guarding the Den, the Pups, if she took over, no one would be able to take her place.

The Hatake could see one of their own driving himself into the ground, and didn’t stand for it.

They acted alongside where the Senju lead the fighting, while the Uchiha protected the village. The Ino-Shika-Cho acting equally medic and demolition. The Hyuuga splitting to alongside both the Senju and the Uchiha. The Aburame and Inuzuka joined them. The Shimura strategized offensives that the Sarutobi acted out. The Utatane and Mitokado taking over defense of the coasts they’d been native to for so long.

There was honor when they were dying to protect the Pack, as they died protecting their squads, wiping out their enemies.

Sakumo was fifteen when two of his cousins died, followed by an aunt, baby cousin, and uncle.

Sakumo was sixteen when his mother fell as well.

Sakumo was seventeen when he earned the monikor of White Fang, a streak of white chakra as he ran through battlefields, driving his tanto through hearts and throats.

~

Sakumo was eighteen when Kagami had taken a blade to the gut, and even as he rushed to aid, protect, avenge, his once-mentor, his _friend_, he was beaten there by another.

Kagami had gotten it trying to take on a titan aiming for Tobirama, and as he crippled to the ground, shoved back by the foot pulling the weapon out of him, _Tobirama_ had appeared like a wrathful ghost, a demon in the night, from the fog rising in the air beneath his control, only seen by how his blade was suddenly coated in lightning, striking out at the other shinobi.

Sakumo had gathered up Kagami and _ran_.

It was only then that he’d seen the tattoo Kagami had told him he’d planned to get for _years_ but had chickened out on several times about, and only now realized the real reason why he’d hesitated or second-guessed about it: it was Tobirama’s infamous Hiraishin, tattooed _on the back of his neck_.

Sakumo was eighteen when he’d realized that Kagami loved Tobirama, there on a battlefield in the middle of a war.

~

Sakumo was twenty when Kagami came back from what would be one of the last battles of the war, _without_ Tobirama.

He watched as his friend grieved, trying to not leave him alone. He stunk of _death/heartsick/sorrow_ in the way his uncle had after first his wife then his newborn son had died, before he’d gone out to die against an enemy that he should have been able to easily kill.

Every time he that he left him, he was afraid that he’d come back to a corpse.

Every time he had just managed to find him with his eyes bleeding red, spinning in a new pattern, forest burning around him with fire, sometimes with black flames that nothing he could do would put out.

Twenty days later, Tobirama was back, and Kagami didn’t leave his side.

As happy as he was for his friend, he managed to find Tōka-sama for a moment and ask that she not kill him when, if Kagami finally managed to confess to Tobirama, and if he was denied, he tried to kill their Hokage for destroying Kagami a second time.

Her grin was toothy but she didn’t answer.

Sakumo appreciated the honesty; Hatake she was not by blood, but she had proven to be as good as one, and if she hadn’t been with Mito-sama, he was sure that one of his clan would have been courting her by now from that grin alone. One had already proposed on the spot once they’d watched her spar with her cousin one day before the war.

Within a month, Kagami had himself a mate and a pup on the way.

Two months later, the Uchiha brought the female-formed Tobirama to his clan’s Den and asked that he be a godfather to their pup.

Sakumo was twenty-one when he held his god-daughter in his arms while Tobirama and Kagami watched, before passing her onto her other godfathers and godmother, the rest of Team Tobirama.

Kasumi was beautiful, with Hatake-grey tufts of curling hair and the hint of Uchiha-black in baby-blue eyes to the Senju’s honey-brown skin.

She made him want a pup of his own, but he’d take great joy in spoiling this one regardless.

Sakumo was twenty-eight when he held his own son in his arms and breathed out _Kakashi _as his name.

**Author's Note:**

> Sakumo is 20, Kagami is 26, Tobirama is 37


End file.
